Details sketchy when preventing criticism of CFL players

Edmonton Eskimos players and coaches talk strategy on the bench during last Friday’s game against the Calgary Stampeders at Commonwealth Stadium. Calgary defeated Edmonton 22-12. Amber Bracken/QMI Agency

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Since when is an employer not allowed to criticize the performance of an employee?

Since the current collective bargaining agreement was struck between the CFL and their players association, that’s when.

But the league didn’t provide any details on how such a stipulation was included when contacted by the Sun on Tuesday morning.

After all, coaching staffs are asked to evaluate on-field efforts of specific players in the media all the time, so what’s the difference when Edmonton Eskimos general manager Ed Hervey spoke his mind last week?

“That would be a comment that you could take to Jamie Dykstra and the league,” Hervey said, referring to the CFL communications and broadcast director. “I’m just looking forward to this weekend.

“Our players here know how passionate our organization is about winning and we’re not living up to that expectation right now.

“We all have a collective hand in that and we’d like to change that this weekend and start putting some wins on the board.”

No clarification

Only the league wasn’t willing to provide any further clarification on how a script exists where players can’t be criticized by an organization in a public forum.

“We can’t comment on how a specific portion of the CBA was collectively bargained,” said a CFL spokesperson.

“We did notify the CFLPA Monday morning that we spoke with Ed Hervey last week and informed him that his comments were not appropriate under our CBA and warned about making similar comments in the future.

“We are confident it will not occur again.”

And that is where the league will leave it, adding no further action will be taken despite the players association issuing a press release Monday seeking punishment.

“Given how quick the league is to respond and punish CFL players for remarks it deems inappropriate, it is troubling that the CFL has made no public announcement of any action that has been taken in this matter,” players association president Mike Morreale stated in the release, before meeting with Hervey at Commonwealth Stadium on Tuesday.

Hervey, Rottier meet

But Hervey had already met with Rottier earlier that morning to let him know he’d be back in the lineup, and said one had nothing to do with the other.

“I’m not worried about anyone else trying to force me to do anything, I make my own bed and I lay in it,” Hervey said.

“To receive criticism for calling a player out, that is what it is, but in the game of football, accountability is extremely important.

“We have to be accountable for ourselves, we have to be accountable for how we play and we have to hold our teammates and staffs accountable. And if there is accountability in the walls of the organization and in the locker-room, you generally don’t have to make those kind of comments.”

With just one win to show for the season, it was a case of desperate times calling for desperate measures. Measures the CFLPA involved themselves in, in this case.

“That’s their decision and that’s something in the rules that if they feel it’s broken then they take our side,” said Eskimos right guard Simeon Rottier. “They’re always looking out for the players and I’m not surprised, I guess.”

“Every now and then, you have to ruffle the feathers of a group to get them to understand that falling short is not going to be accepted here in Edmonton,” he said. “This is not an organization that is OK with falling short in exciting comebacks.

As Advertised in the Edmonton SUN

Details sketchy when preventing criticism of CFL players

Since when is an employer not allowed to criticize the performance of an employee?

Since the current collective bargaining agreement was struck between the CFL and their players association, that’s when.

But the league didn’t provide any details on how such a stipulation was included when contacted by the Sun on Tuesday morning.

After all, coaching staffs are asked to evaluate on-field efforts of specific players in the media all the time, so what’s the difference when Edmonton Eskimos general manager Ed Hervey spoke his mind last week?

“That would be a comment that you could take to Jamie Dykstra and the league,” Hervey said, referring to the CFL communications and broadcast director. “I’m just looking forward to this weekend.

“Our players here know how passionate our organization is about winning and we’re not living up to that expectation right now.

“We all have a collective hand in that and we’d like to change that this weekend and start putti